UT GOV Hosts Partners from International IDEA

This story originally appeared on the UT Government Department website.

The UT Government Department hosted partners from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), kicking off a new collaboration that will send UT graduate and undergraduate students to work with IDEA on democracy and election assistance in the field.

The collaboration was launched in the 2022-23 academic year with creation of UT’s Embedded Scholars Program, an innovative research fellowship designed to launch students’ work and research in the field while supporting democratic development in Latin America. The program is based in the UT Government Department and developed in partnership with International IDEA and the Comparative Constitutions Project (CCP). The program is led by Zachary Elkins and Ashley Moran.

In Summer 2023, the program will place nine graduate and undergraduate students in IDEA’s Office in Panama, Office in Chile, and Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, with funding from Texas Global.

The students met on the Forty Acres with Carlos González Martínez, IDEA’s Project Manager for technical assistance to the Electoral Tribunal of Panama, and Katherine Batista-Sánchez, IDEA’s Project Assistant for the Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office, to plan the students’ summer work for IDEA. 

The UT Government Department and International IDEA kickoff a new collaboration that will send UT graduate and undergraduate students to work with IDEA on democracy and election assistance in the field. Left to right: Carlos González Martínez, Zachary Elkins, Katherine Batista-Sánchez, and Ashley Moran.
The UT Government Department and International IDEA kickoff a new collaboration that will send UT graduate and undergraduate students to work with IDEA on democracy and election assistance in the field. Left to right: Carlos González Martínez, Zachary Elkins, Katherine Batista-Sánchez, and Ashley Moran.
UT students and faculty meet with International IDEA personnel on the Forty Acres to plan students’ work for IDEA this summer in Chile and Panama. Left to right: Frances Parra, Alejandra Jimenez, Carlos González Martínez, Zachary Elkins, Katherine Batista-Sánchez, Tien Vo, Alexys Aquino, Kaitlin Passafiume, Ashley Moran, Francisco Alvarado-Quiroz, Guillermo Pérez, and Matthew Martin.
UT students and faculty meet with International IDEA personnel on the Forty Acres to plan students’ work for IDEA this summer in Chile and Panama. Left to right: Frances Parra, Alejandra Jimenez, Carlos González Martínez, Zachary Elkins, Katherine Batista-Sánchez, Tien Vo, Alexys Aquino, Kaitlin Passafiume, Ashley Moran, Francisco Alvarado-Quiroz, Guillermo Pérez, and Matthew Martin.

In Summer 2023, students will work with International IDEA on a range of democracy assistance projects and with CCP to field public consultations on constitutional issues. Their work in Chile and Panama comes at a particularly exciting and complex time, with Chile drafting a new constitution in 2023 and Panama preparing for nationwide elections in Spring 2024.

To prepare, the students took a class in the Government Department in Spring 2023 on Research in Democratic and Constitutional Development. This new class was specifically designed to prepare students for their work in the field, covering varied facets of democratization, constitutional design, and democracy assistance. The class also designed a new deliberative consultation framework to research public views on constitutional issues in the region.

The program’s students and faculty briefed IDEA on their new public consultation on constitutional issues developed in the spring course. They also briefed IDEA on their new methods for public consultation analysis.

IDEA personnel briefed the students on their current democracy assistance programs in the region and what it’s like working at IDEA. IDEA’s briefing also helped acclimate the students more broadly to working in Panama and Chile. The students will depart in late May to start work for IDEA on June 1.

Carlos González Martínez and Katherine Batista-Sánchez from International IDEA get to know the Longhorn community this spring.

For more information on this year’s activities or applying for the fellowship in future years, please reach out to Zachary Elkins (zelkins@austin.utexas.edu) and Ashley Moran (ashleymoran@utexas.edu).